Major revamp of OrbitNote
Since OrbitNote’s first release in 2021, the demand for a digital accessible document solution has always been clear. This demand drives our commitment to provide the best possible product for our customers.
We always want to make sure that our product best fits our customers’ needs. In response, we’ve listened to your feedback and are dedicated to revamping OrbitNote using state-of-the-art technology. This revamp, starting on August 5th, will take everything you know and love about OrbitNote and make it even better at making learning accessible for all students. We think you’re going to love it!
So let’s run through everything that’s new in OrbitNote:
What’s new in OrbitNote?
A fresh new design & enhanced accessibility
The first thing you’ll see in the new OrbitNote, as well as many more features, is a brand new design. It’s sleeker, and most importantly, even more accessible. We’ve applied the best design practices around discoverability and user experience to the product. The result is an update centred around a completely accessible learning experience. Check out the new dashboard and viewer.
We’ve added simple recent files picker on the dashboard, easier navigation of tools, consistency of menus, and colour contrast for selected tools on the viewer all add to experience.
Effortless sign-in
We’ve also focused on ensuring even more ease-of-use. Sign in once, and you’ll stay signed in until your browser decides you need to do so again. You can access Google Drive and OneDrive, regardless of whether you signed in with Google or Microsoft too.
Enhanced annotation features
Experience greater flexibility and reliability with annotations. OrbitNote now allows for cross-platform annotation editing between OrbitNote and Adobe Acrobat, as well as many other products that support standard annotation formats. Additionally, you can copy, paste, and undo/redo annotations with ease using familiar keyboard shortcuts.
You’ll also have much more reliability and consistency than ever before. You’ll also get more tools and more control to add much more variety and flexibility to how you annotate your documents.
Fillable forms
You asked for it, and we’ve delivered it. OrbitNote is now completely compatible with form PDFs, so if you have any text areas, check boxes, or radio buttons on your documents, you can now work with these seamlessly in OrbitNote.
Streamlined document editing
Rather than go to the dashboard and open Split&Merge, you can now add pages, delete pages, reorganise pages and even insert whole new documents or parts of documents to your current one directly from the viewer. Great for adding blank pages to add more annotations, for example.
Multi-tasking with new tabs
Your documents will now all show as separate tabs inside the one browser tab for OrbitNote. This will make navigating between documents, as well as opening and creating documents, a breeze directly from inside the viewer.
Literacy integration
OrbitNote offers key literacy and accessibility features like Screenshot Reader, Text to Speech, Speech Input, and Screen Masking. Very soon, it will also integrate with Read&Write, bringing those tools directly to the OrbitNote toolbar for a seamless experience.
OrbitNote has revolutionized how we handle PDFs. As constant PDF users, we rely on it daily for textbooks and articles. And the latest update is incredible, it introduced features we didn't know we needed. We can’t wait to see even more students benefit from this enhanced tool.
How do I get the new OrbitNote?
The OrbitNote revamp will be available soon to all customers, and you can opt in or stick with classic OrbitNote for now. It’s important to know that the revamped version doesn’t yet have all the features currently available in the existing tool. For example, coming soon, we’ll have voice notes, collect highlights, vocabulary and math tools. We already have basic Google Classroom compatibility, there is more work to do on integration with other Learning Management Systems (LMS).
We understand these are important features for you, and we want to reassure you that we are actively working on adding these features to the revamped version in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, you can continue to use classic OrbitNote with full access to all its features while we work on these updates. We hope you'll join us on October 10th for a deep dive into the new version.
See these new updates in action
Tune into our webinar on 10th October to get an in depth overview of the latest OrbitNote enhancements with our Product Manager, Stuart Mardsen. Stuart will take a deep dive into everything that’s new in the revamped OrbitNote, and how it makes for an even more intuitive and accessible learning experience.